"The latest data on tourism activity for November show a sharp recovery of indicators in the destination Porto e Norte de Portugal, with emphasis on maintaining leadership in the ranking of guests and the assumption of leadership in the number of nights spent by residents," said in a statement, the Tourism of Porto e Norte.

Between January and November, Porto e Norte registered 3.083 million guests, and "the region is well placed to achieve the leadership of this indicator in the final results of the year, given that the Christmas season registered reasonable rates of hotel occupancy.

"These are encouraging numbers, which give us strength to continue the gradual recovery of the activity," says Luís Pedro Martins, president of Turismo do Porto e Norte, who hopes that "Easter of the year that now begins, will finally be a milestone of normalisation of tourism activity.

Following this, he points to the year 2023 "as a goal for us to have numbers equal to or greater than those recorded in 2019, which was the best year ever. We know the risks of these prognoses in a period of such uncertainty, but the current data allows us to believe that the worst is over.

In terms of overnight stays, and also according to INE data, the numbers reached in November are 11 thousand overnight stays of what was verified in the same period of 2019, although, in the accumulated of the year, the difference is still sharp.

However, in this indicator, Porto and North occupies the second place in the national ranking. It is also registered a surpassing of non-resident overnight stays, over resident overnight stays.

"Despite the fact that today we have more encouraging data than those recorded in 2020, it should be noted that these results were well below expectations and did not allow companies in the sector the much desired and necessary recovery. It is therefore essential to continue to support companies so that they do not go under" warns the president of Turismo do Porto e Norte.